High RH Levels & Leaf Curling

[ArtistZanner]

One thing you may want to consider doing is to raise the smaller plants so that they are level with the larger ones. This way everyone is receiving the same amount of light and it'll give your smaller plants a chance to catch up in terms of growth to your larger ones.

Now that you've narrowed what you think the issue is you can better adjust your area to get the plants back into growth mode rather than recovery.

You can combine the epsom with your nutrients as long as you are watering it immediately into the soil. If you were to setup an automatic watering system then I would say to separate the two to keep them from precipitating.

How to prevent nutrients from precipitating in fertilizer tanks?

When mixing the fertilizers, the risk of precipitation in the fertilizer tanks is present. This is often caused by incorrect dosing or mixing.

royalbrinkman.com

I don't have the ability to set up an automatic watering system. I was thinking of either adding the epsom salts directly to the soil before watering, or putting some in a spray bottle and spraying the leaves.
I thought about something else. You remember me thinking that my leaves might have bugs, well I seen a video about a man who had a calcium deficiency and his leaves looked very similar to mine. Now, just to say, I didn't start using CalMag until I was already into my veg growth, so maybe that's why Batch 1 looks so needy and Batch 2 does not. Anyway, I keep a range of aquatic creatures and have a few fish tanks, and one of the things I do is I crush egg shells into a powder. I was wondering if adding some of that powder to the soil might help as well, maybe not to all the plants, but maybe to those that I thought might have bugs. I am sure they do not have bugs now, and like I said, I sprayed neem anyway, just to be sure.

What do you think about adding egg shell powder to my soil?

 

[PooToe]

I don't have the ability to set up an automatic watering system. I was thinking of either adding the epsom salts directly to the soil before watering, or putting some in a spray bottle and spraying the leaves.
I thought about something else. You remember me thinking that my leaves might have bugs, well I seen a video about a man who had a calcium deficiency and his leaves looked very similar to mine. Now, just to say, I didn't start using CalMag until I was already into my veg growth, so maybe that's why Batch 1 looks so needy and Batch 2 does not. Anyway, I keep a range of aquatic creatures and have a few fish tanks, and one of the things I do is I crush egg shells into a powder. I was wondering if adding some of that powder to the soil might help as well, maybe not to all the plants, but maybe to those that I thought might have bugs. I am sure they do not have bugs now, and like I said, I sprayed neem anyway, just to be sure.

What do you think about adding egg shell powder to my soil?

The calcium in and of itself isn't going to do anything to the bugs. If you want to be proactive you can make an insecticidal soap solution that will kill most bugs. Mites are much harder to kill but if you can catch them early enough the soap solution may be enough. It's pretty mild so using it as a preventative is fine.

This Super Cheap DIY Recipe Kills Garden Insects Naturally

Homemade insecticidal soap is nontoxic and costs less than $2 to make.

www.bobvila.com

If the infestation of mites or most any other bugs gets out of hand you can go nuclear and give them something stronger. Neem oil is a natural way of killing insects but once your plant is in flower Neem will make them gummy so best not to use Neem in flower. What I use in those situations is a product called Azamax. It is a neem oil derivative so it's still a fairly safe product. It is OMRI certified and the instructions say that you can use it up to 10 days before harvest but I wouldn't use it any closer than a month before just to make sure any residual is gone. It ain't cheap but a little goes a long way. Just make sure you spray down the plant both top and bottom of the leaf surface and every other surface of the plant you think the bugs will be. Depending on how intense the infestation is you may need to do more than one application.

Amazon.com : 4OZ AzaMax : Fertilizers : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com : 4OZ AzaMax : Fertilizers : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

If you have a power outlet in your space you can make your own DIY auto irrigate. All you need is a reservoir tank, a pond pump, a digital timer and some drip line along with whatever connector bits like T's that you'll need to complete it. Your reservoir tank will hold your pre mixed nutrient solution. Your timer will be what actuates your pond pump to turn on and off for the specified amount of time you set. The pond pump will be submerged in your nutrient solution. Depending on how many plant sites you want to water you can use a drip distribution head to feed them all at once.
Once I set up the initial system I'll turn on the pump with the reservoir filled with just water to see how long it takes for water to start seeping out the bottom. I'll program the timer to turn on and off within this time period and adjust as I go along. If you want to go drain to waste with runoff then determine how much runoff you want and add that to your time on.

The green plastic bin in the pic below is a 30 gal/114 ltr bin I bought at Wal Mart. The pond pump and drip supplies I bought from Amazon. If you notice I also drain my dehumidifier back into my reservoir to keep it topped off with water. Some say the condensate may contain heavy metals from the dehumidifier but I tested the condensate from mine with my PPM pen and it showed zero so I go ahead and use it. So far I haven't seen any negative affects from it on the plants. You can also add an airstone into the reservoir to oxygenate your feed solution adding O² into the root zone. I didn't use an airstone but what I did do was add a couple of wave makers into the reservoir to keep the nutrient solution suspended in the water and to add O² into the solution by agitating the surface.

When the water gets to your plants you can use premade watering rings or you can make your own. I had bought a box with a variety of different connectors and fittings for drip systems so I just made my own. I used a T connector to connect to the source line going to the plant and 4 other T's connected in a circle with the 1/4" drip line around the main stem. One of the legs of each T is positioned pointing down into the soil at whatever angle you feel is best to water the entire media. I used large paper clips bent into the shape of a tube stake(OMG! No pun intended!) to pin down the watering ring into place so it isn't moving around. Once you've dialed in the watering time you need the pump to stay on it's pretty much a hands off affair other than replenishing the reservoir when it gets low

After the first run I did with the DIY watering rings I wanted a better spread over the entire media so I used some watering plates from a company called FloraFlex. They work great and get ALL the media in the pot wet. My plants love it!

ROUND MATRIX PAD | 12ct

The FloraFlex® Matrix Pad is part of the Matrix System, a patent pending first of its kind Top Feeding Wicking System that provides the most even way to deliver water and nutrients to your plants. The Round Matrix System can be used with pots ranging from 7.5"-18" Diameters. You will need a...

floraflex.com

Cruise their site. Some really interesting products.

 

[ArtistZanner]

The calcium in and of itself isn't going to do anything to the bugs. If you want to be proactive you can make an insecticidal soap solution that will kill most bugs. Mites are much harder to kill but if you can catch them early enough the soap solution may be enough. It's pretty mild so using it as a preventative is fine.

This Super Cheap DIY Recipe Kills Garden Insects Naturally

Homemade insecticidal soap is nontoxic and costs less than $2 to make.

www.bobvila.com

If the infestation of mites or most any other bugs gets out of hand you can go nuclear and give them something stronger. Neem oil is a natural way of killing insects but once your plant is in flower Neem will make them gummy so best not to use Neem in flower. What I use in those situations is a product called Azamax. It is a neem oil derivative so it's still a fairly safe product. It is OMRI certified and the instructions say that you can use it up to 10 days before harvest but I wouldn't use it any closer than a month before just to make sure any residual is gone. It ain't cheap but a little goes a long way. Just make sure you spray down the plant both top and bottom of the leaf surface and every other surface of the plant you think the bugs will be. Depending on how intense the infestation is you may need to do more than one application.

Amazon.com : 4OZ AzaMax : Fertilizers : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com : 4OZ AzaMax : Fertilizers : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

If you have a power outlet in your space you can make your own DIY auto irrigate. All you need is a reservoir tank, a pond pump, a digital timer and some drip line along with whatever connector bits like T's that you'll need to complete it. Your reservoir tank will hold your pre mixed nutrient solution. Your timer will be what actuates your pond pump to turn on and off for the specified amount of time you set. The pond pump will be submerged in your nutrient solution. Depending on how many plant sites you want to water you can use a drip distribution head to feed them all at once.
Once I set up the initial system I'll turn on the pump with the reservoir filled with just water to see how long it takes for water to start seeping out the bottom. I'll program the timer to turn on and off within this time period and adjust as I go along. If you want to go drain to waste with runoff then determine how much runoff you want and add that to your time on.

The green plastic bin in the pic below is a 30 gal/114 ltr bin I bought at Wal Mart. The pond pump and drip supplies I bought from Amazon. If you notice I also drain my dehumidifier back into my reservoir to keep it topped off with water. Some say the condensate may contain heavy metals from the dehumidifier but I tested the condensate from mine with my PPM pen and it showed zero so I go ahead and use it. So far I haven't seen any negative affects from it on the plants. You can also add an airstone into the reservoir to oxygenate your feed solution adding O² into the root zone. I didn't use an airstone but what I did do was add a couple of wave makers into the reservoir to keep the nutrient solution suspended in the water and to add O² into the solution by agitating the surface.

View attachment 2308631

View attachment 2308632

When the water gets to your plants you can use premade watering rings or you can make your own. I had bought a box with a variety of different connectors and fittings for drip systems so I just made my own. I used a T connector to connect to the source line going to the plant and 4 other T's connected in a circle with the 1/4" drip line around the main stem. One of the legs of each T is positioned pointing down into the soil at whatever angle you feel is best to water the entire media. I used large paper clips bent into the shape of a tube stake(OMG! No pun intended!) to pin down the watering ring into place so it isn't moving around. Once you've dialed in the watering time you need the pump to stay on it's pretty much a hands off affair other than replenishing the reservoir when it gets low

After the first run I did with the DIY watering rings I wanted a better spread over the entire media so I used some watering plates from a company called FloraFlex. They work great and get ALL the media in the pot wet. My plants love it!

ROUND MATRIX PAD | 12ct

The FloraFlex® Matrix Pad is part of the Matrix System, a patent pending first of its kind Top Feeding Wicking System that provides the most even way to deliver water and nutrients to your plants. The Round Matrix System can be used with pots ranging from 7.5"-18" Diameters. You will need a...

floraflex.com

Cruise their site. Some really interesting products.

Sorry if I didn't make my comments clear. I don't have bugs. I am 99.9% sure I do not. I only sprayed my neem just to be safe, but as I said, after watching a video where a man had plants that looked just like mine, his issue turned out to be low calcium or calcium deficiency. I'm going to post a new thread because I think this one is losing it's interest. I have other questions anyway. Still, thank you for your help and advice.

I will add that while the building I'm growing in is quite large, it's mainly being used as a storage space. We moved from a much bigger house into a smaller house and so a lot of stuff ended up in that building. If I literally took every single thing out, it would be a big space and I'd have the room to do some of the things you're talking about, and things other people do. As I said in a previous post, I didn't plan my grow very well. I realise that now. I just thought I'd need a small portion of space, but you don't realise how big these plants are, especially as I've never seen this type before. The weed I'm used to seeing had thin, smaller leaves, the leaves on my plants, some of them are monster leaves. I would guess 8" easily on some of the bigger fan leaves. And that takes up space. I guess you could say I jumped off the deep end and then realised I wasn't such a good swimmer. At least that's how it feels. I was just out there and I thought about something, if I removed the 3 worst plants, that would still leave me with 8, and that's not too bad. So worst comes to worst, that's what I will do. I'm not going to throw them away just yet because I'd like to succeed, just to prove to myself that I can make this work. But those 3 plants have issues and unless they sort out soon, I may not take them into flower. I'm not certain yet. But yet to reiterate, I don't have bugs. I was asking about putting powered egg shells into my soil because it will help my calcium deficiency, so that's what that was about.

 

[trustyagut]

Sorry if I didn't make my comments clear. I don't have bugs. I am 99.9% sure I do not. I only sprayed my neem just to be safe, but as I said, after watching a video where a man had plants that looked just like mine, his issue turned out to be low calcium or calcium deficiency. I'm going to post a new thread because I think this one is losing it's interest. I have other questions anyway. Still, thank you for your help and advice.

I will add that while the building I'm growing in is quite large, it's mainly being used as a storage space. We moved from a much bigger house into a smaller house and so a lot of stuff ended up in that building. If I literally took every single thing out, it would be a big space and I'd have the room to do some of the things you're talking about, and things other people do. As I said in a previous post, I didn't plan my grow very well. I realise that now. I just thought I'd need a small portion of space, but you don't realise how big these plants are, especially as I've never seen this type before. The weed I'm used to seeing had thin, smaller leaves, the leaves on my plants, some of them are monster leaves. I would guess 8" easily on some of the bigger fan leaves. And that takes up space. I guess you could say I jumped off the deep end and then realised I wasn't such a good swimmer. At least that's how it feels. I was just out there and I thought about something, if I removed the 3 worst plants, that would still leave me with 8, and that's not too bad. So worst comes to worst, that's what I will do. I'm not going to throw them away just yet because I'd like to succeed, just to prove to myself that I can make this work. But those 3 plants have issues and unless they sort out soon, I may not take them into flower. I'm not certain yet. But yet to reiterate, I don't have bugs. I was asking about putting powered egg shells into my soil because it will help my calcium deficiency, so that's what that was about.

How much weed do you need? Even dropping down to 8 plants you'll still need a lot of space. I only grow 4 at a time so I can comfortably walk around them all. I'd rather do 4 plants rather than possibly lose them all. 4 plants can easily do a couple lb of cured chronic.

 

[PooToe]

Sorry if I didn't make my comments clear. I don't have bugs. I am 99.9% sure I do not. I only sprayed my neem just to be safe, but as I said, after watching a video where a man had plants that looked just like mine, his issue turned out to be low calcium or calcium deficiency. I'm going to post a new thread because I think this one is losing it's interest. I have other questions anyway. Still, thank you for your help and advice.

I will add that while the building I'm growing in is quite large, it's mainly being used as a storage space. We moved from a much bigger house into a smaller house and so a lot of stuff ended up in that building. If I literally took every single thing out, it would be a big space and I'd have the room to do some of the things you're talking about, and things other people do. As I said in a previous post, I didn't plan my grow very well. I realise that now. I just thought I'd need a small portion of space, but you don't realise how big these plants are, especially as I've never seen this type before. The weed I'm used to seeing had thin, smaller leaves, the leaves on my plants, some of them are monster leaves. I would guess 8" easily on some of the bigger fan leaves. And that takes up space. I guess you could say I jumped off the deep end and then realised I wasn't such a good swimmer. At least that's how it feels. I was just out there and I thought about something, if I removed the 3 worst plants, that would still leave me with 8, and that's not too bad. So worst comes to worst, that's what I will do. I'm not going to throw them away just yet because I'd like to succeed, just to prove to myself that I can make this work. But those 3 plants have issues and unless they sort out soon, I may not take them into flower. I'm not certain yet. But yet to reiterate, I don't have bugs. I was asking about putting powered egg shells into my soil because it will help my calcium deficiency, so that's what that was about.

Don't sweat it. We've all made mistakes our first time. I've killed more plants then I care to remember.

The big fan leaves are a good sign. Typically small thin leaved plants are of the sativa variety of cannabis. They are usually lanky and tall . Indica plants have wider leaves and are bushier and squattier. Not always but that is the general idea.

Your plants are fine. You have a few stragglers but they're doing great so far. Even if one or two just stay sick or die you have enough good ones it won't matter much.

I've grown in a tool shed full of tools. I get it. These plants grow quick. If you top them they'll get even bushier. I like to leave a little over half a meter square per plant. That is the minimum space I like to leave for a fully flowered plant. Average yield would be around 300g - 400g.

 

[ArtistZanner]

How much weed do you need? Even dropping down to 8 plants you'll still need a lot of space. I only grow 4 at a time so I can comfortably walk around them all. I'd rather do 4 plants rather than possibly lose them all. 4 plants can easily do a couple lb of cured chronic.

I don't really "need" any particular amount. To be honest, I think I have enough space, though I will have to move plants around to water, and then to empty run-off, but I'd have to do that anyway. I am going to flip on the 27th, and if those 3 plants don't make it, that's okay.

 

[PooToe]

I don't really "need" any particular amount. To be honest, I think I have enough space, though I will have to move plants around to water, and then to empty run-off, but I'd have to do that anyway. I am going to flip on the 27th, and if those 3 plants don't make it, that's okay.

I started this grow with 5 clones that had 3 fingered leaves. These plants are resilient. You'll probably get them all to flower.

 

[ArtistZanner]

I started this grow with 5 clones that had 3 fingered leaves. These plants are resilient. You'll probably get them all to flower.

View attachment 2309502

Wow, that's quite a grow! I hope you don't mind me asking, but is that a "blurple light" (that's what I've heard them referred to as), and if so, are they really any good? And how do you get all your plants the same height? Even my 2nd Batch, which came out much better than my first batch, aren't exactly the same size, though they are very close. I know I should have the tops at the same level, but I just can't do it. I can't think of anything I could put in that space that would elevate the plants and still allow me to be able to turn the lights on/off and to water. I have length in there, but not a lot of width.

Okay, so just a few days before I flip, should I do any cutting at all, or leave everything as is? I did weeks ago cut the lower portions off, but I didn't cut any of the large fan leaves because I read that I shouldn't. I topped every plant and they are doing nicely since. Should I do anything different before flipping? And aside from the lights 12 on and 12 off, is there anything else I'm supposed to do differently once I've changed my cycle from veg to flower? It's exciting, but I'm also fretting just a little bit.

The last few nights has been cool, so once the lights are on, I've been opening the door to let in some cool air, and it's brought the humidity down (it does bring the temp down too, but not drastically), so I got to thinking. The one window in my building, the one I can open, I've been opening it and closing it when lights are off, so no light gets in. I've actually ordered a clip-on fan that should arrive Saturday and I'm going to clip that by that window to suck in cooler air, and hopefully bring down my humidity. I am just a bit concerned about my humidity levels and I'm about to start flowering. I will only run it when the lights are on because otherwise I run the risk of letting light in when the lights are off and I don't want to jeopardise my little garden experiment. I will say this, if I go out there and water, or inspect the plants and rub up against the plants, I can smell that stuff once I'm back inside the house, so I can only imagine what it will be like in a few months.

I'm not in a hurry, but just for my own curiosity, how long do most people flower for? I know you can't give me an exact number because plants are different, but I'm just wondering what a normal amount of time is, just so I can be watching how things are progressing. Also, I know I need to give my plants more intense light during flowering, and seeing how I've already had issues with too much light intensity, am I just biting the bullet, so to speak, with those 3 plants, and turning up the dimmer anyway? And do I gradually turn up the intensity, or on the first day of my 12/12 cycle, do I just turn the lights up?

 

[ArtistZanner]

@PooToe I just thought about this after I'd already posted the above comments. The 3 plants that are the troublesome ones, they are also the tallest ones, and if they double in height, they will be pretty tall. If I'm going to flip on the 27th, that's actually turning my lights to 12/12, is it too late to trim them down some, so their height isn't quite so high? I read that you should do any trimming 5 days prior to flipping to flower, and if I do it tonight, and tonight inclusive, that's only 4 days if you include the 27th. Would that cause any major problems? I mean, really, I'm thinking at this point, those plants aren't the best I have anyway. So if I chop them down, they'll either bush up, or they don't and I lose them. I know we are on vastly different time zones, so I'll probably go out and trim them down a bit, and lose some of that height, otherwise, I think they're going to be unmanageable.

 

[PooToe]

Wow, that's quite a grow! I hope you don't mind me asking, but is that a "blurple light" (that's what I've heard them referred to as), and if so, are they really any good?

Yes, that is a Blurple light. It is a double chipped light with only red and blue light spectrums. No green or yellow.

Are they good? I think the picture speaks for itself! These were made in the days before they determined that plants do use green and yellow but mainly red and blue. The white light LED's you see today have the entire spectrum.

And how do you get all your plants the same height? Even my 2nd Batch, which came out much better than my first batch, aren't exactly the same size, though they are very close. I know I should have the tops at the same level, but I just can't do it. I can't think of anything I could put in that space that would elevate the plants and still allow me to be able to turn the lights on/off and to water. I have length in there, but not a lot of width.

I use a method called ScrOG or Screen of Green. What you do is lay a screen across your plants and bend the branches underneath the screen to maximize, and equalize, the light exposure to all the bud sites along each branch. It is similar to LST(Low Stress Training) but on a whole plant basis. LST works on singular branches. Both have their place but I forego the LST as I'll be doing the same thing in ScrOG. Along with light exposure ScrOG also helps in controlling plant height as all the branches get tucked under the screen until you flip them. This is how I set up my ScrOG for the grow pic I posted.

Don't worry about upside down leaves they'll acclimate to the light. This pic was taken two days later.

After you flip the light schedule your plants will go into a "stretch" period where they will double or triple in size depending on the genetics of the cultivar so you have to allow for what you think they may grow into. Many people will either forget or not know and when the plants start to actually flower they are too close to the light and the flowers will get burned. ScrOG eliminates pretty much all of that. Once you've grown a particular cultivar you'll get a much better idea of what kind of stretch you'll get so when you run them again you can better time your stretch period to be able to take advantage and let the branches go vertical through the net so that you end up with a sea of colas.

This is a picture of someone's plant that I am helping on this site. This is his first grow. He is growing in a .6M x .6M x 1.2M/2 x 2 x 4 tent. He timed his ScrOG so that he got edge to edge coverage but also got some nice tall colas so that when flowers started to form he was setup for a nice harvest. This is the link to his journal. Check it out. Some really nice progression photos for you to get some ideas from.

This is my first real grow!

Hey everyone! Im growing a seed i got from a bag of Platinum Garlic OG from Triple Seven out here in AZ. Iv had some trouble keeping the temps down where my grow tent used to be, so i dedicated an extra room to it. I was keeping my temps between 70° and...

www.thcfarmer.com

From the photos you posted it looks like you are still in the window to be able to do a ScrOG. In fact, there is a new way I want to try that you may be able to use. Instead of using one giant screen stretched over all the plants you utilize some metal rabbit fencing as a screen and make a .6m x .6M/2 x 2 screen. You place the screen on top of the plant you want to ScrOG and you adjust the branches under the screen, along with weaving some of the branches through the screen, as the plant grows into it. This allows you to be able to move the plant around and maintain it when you need to do some trimming or whatever maintenance need the plant may have but still control the height of the plant.

Okay, so just a few days before I flip, should I do any cutting at all, or leave everything as is? I did weeks ago cut the lower portions off, but I didn't cut any of the large fan leaves because I read that I shouldn't. I topped every plant and they are doing nicely since. Should I do anything different before flipping? And aside from the lights 12 on and 12 off, is there anything else I'm supposed to do differently once I've changed my cycle from veg to flower? It's exciting, but I'm also fretting just a little bit.

My method is to top when I have 6 nodes showing, nodes are each leaf site. You usually have 2 opposing leaf sites in every node. The space between each node is called an internode. The same day I'm going to flip the light schedule I will do a hard defoliation to give the plant better light penetration and air circulation. After that the only times I clip leaves off is if they are in the way and blocking light to a bud site. I usually don't defoliate plants in veg unless the leaves get so bunched up that there is a possibility of mold forming from the wet leaves touching each other.

There are other training methods like FIM(Fuck I Missed), Super Cropping, Schwazzing, etc. Look them up and learn what each does. You can decide what is best for the situation you are in. I've topped at 6th node then let the plant fill out then FIM them a week before flip. That method will help in promoting more bud sites also but will take a little longer in veg to allow the additional branching and bud sites to appear.

The last few nights has been cool, so once the lights are on, I've been opening the door to let in some cool air, and it's brought the humidity down (it does bring the temp down too, but not drastically), so I got to thinking. The one window in my building, the one I can open, I've been opening it and closing it when lights are off, so no light gets in. I've actually ordered a clip-on fan that should arrive Saturday and I'm going to clip that by that window to suck in cooler air, and hopefully bring down my humidity. I am just a bit concerned about my humidity levels and I'm about to start flowering. I will only run it when the lights are on because otherwise I run the risk of letting light in when the lights are off and I don't want to jeopardise my little garden experiment. I will say this, if I go out there and water, or inspect the plants and rub up against the plants, I can smell that stuff once I'm back inside the house, so I can only imagine what it will be like in a few months.

Oh you have no idea!!

That sounds like a great idea. The fan will also introduce more air movement into the room. Another way you can do this is to setup an exhaust fan, inline fans are great for this, to exhaust the air in the room to the outside. This will help in regulating temp and humidity but that's for the next grow and if you have the means to be able to do it.

I'm not in a hurry, but just for my own curiosity, how long do most people flower for? I know you can't give me an exact number because plants are different, but I'm just wondering what a normal amount of time is, just so I can be watching how things are progressing. Also, I know I need to give my plants more intense light during flowering, and seeing how I've already had issues with too much light intensity, am I just biting the bullet, so to speak, with those 3 plants, and turning up the dimmer anyway? And do I gradually turn up the intensity, or on the first day of my 12/12 cycle, do I just turn the lights up?

Thankfully your sick plants are going to get a reprieve!

What I do on flip is to turn DOWN the intensity then ramp up the light intensity each week. I find that this gives the plant a chance to switch up the hormone signaling to flowering and I tend to see bud sites just a little earlier than I usually do. The lessened intensity should help your issue. There is a method of determining how much light your plant needs each day. It's called Daily Light Integral(DLI). In the Daily Light Integral chart it shows the pattern I am discussing.

If you have an android phone there is a free app called Tent Buddy that will allow your phone to measure the light coming from your fixture. Iphones tend to use an app called Photone.

Tent Buddy interface

@PooToe I just thought about this after I'd already posted the above comments. The 3 plants that are the troublesome ones, they are also the tallest ones, and if they double in height, they will be pretty tall. If I'm going to flip on the 27th, that's actually turning my lights to 12/12, is it too late to trim them down some, so their height isn't quite so high?

Try ScrOG or LST to bring down the height of your tallest ones. If you can raise the small ones on a platform to even out the canopy that is another way of doing it. In LST you can tie down individual branches to let the shorter ones catch up along with exposing the branch bud sites to a more even light across it.

I read that you should do any trimming 5 days prior to flipping to flower, and if I do it tonight, and tonight inclusive, that's only 4 days if you include the 27th. Would that cause any major problems? I mean, really, I'm thinking at this point, those plants aren't the best I have anyway. So if I chop them down, they'll either bush up, or they don't and I lose them. I know we are on vastly different time zones, so I'll probably go out and trim them down a bit, and lose some of that height, otherwise, I think they're going to be unmanageable.

I defoliate the same day I flip so, no, no problem.

 

[Blastfact]

Use your lights to control PAR and Temps. And done properly you can help control RH. Lets say I'm in transition on my grows right now. I need to maintain my PAR levels, but also maintain 80f temps and my RH. So I raise the lights higher in the tent and crank them up up a bit more and adjust a fan I have above the lights. This allows me to maintain my PAR and also raise the temps in the tent. If RH tries to get high the added light/heat control helps and I can also control RH with my humidifier control. In the summer I can lower the lights and back off there settings and keep temps lower, maintain PAR and adjust RH accordingly. It's just a simple balancing act folks seem to way over complicate and don't use the tools in there bag....

 

[ArtistZanner]

Yes, that is a Blurple light. It is a double chipped light with only red and blue light spectrums. No green or yellow.

Are they good? I think the picture speaks for itself! These were made in the days before they determined that plants do use green and yellow but mainly red and blue. The white light LED's you see today have the entire spectrum.


I use a method called ScrOG or Screen of Green. What you do is lay a screen across your plants and bend the branches underneath the screen to maximize, and equalize, the light exposure to all the bud sites along each branch. It is similar to LST(Low Stress Training) but on a whole plant basis. LST works on singular branches. Both have their place but I forego the LST as I'll be doing the same thing in ScrOG. Along with light exposure ScrOG also helps in controlling plant height as all the branches get tucked under the screen until you flip them. This is how I set up my ScrOG for the grow pic I posted.

View attachment 2309900

Don't worry about upside down leaves they'll acclimate to the light. This pic was taken two days later.

View attachment 2309901

After you flip the light schedule your plants will go into a "stretch" period where they will double or triple in size depending on the genetics of the cultivar so you have to allow for what you think they may grow into. Many people will either forget or not know and when the plants start to actually flower they are too close to the light and the flowers will get burned. ScrOG eliminates pretty much all of that. Once you've grown a particular cultivar you'll get a much better idea of what kind of stretch you'll get so when you run them again you can better time your stretch period to be able to take advantage and let the branches go vertical through the net so that you end up with a sea of colas.

This is a picture of someone's plant that I am helping on this site. This is his first grow. He is growing in a .6M x .6M x 1.2M/2 x 2 x 4 tent. He timed his ScrOG so that he got edge to edge coverage but also got some nice tall colas so that when flowers started to form he was setup for a nice harvest. This is the link to his journal. Check it out. Some really nice progression photos for you to get some ideas from.

This is my first real grow!

Hey everyone! Im growing a seed i got from a bag of Platinum Garlic OG from Triple Seven out here in AZ. Iv had some trouble keeping the temps down where my grow tent used to be, so i dedicated an extra room to it. I was keeping my temps between 70° and...

www.thcfarmer.com

View attachment 2309912

From the photos you posted it looks like you are still in the window to be able to do a ScrOG. In fact, there is a new way I want to try that you may be able to use. Instead of using one giant screen stretched over all the plants you utilize some metal rabbit fencing as a screen and make a .6m x .6M/2 x 2 screen. You place the screen on top of the plant you want to ScrOG and you adjust the branches under the screen, along with weaving some of the branches through the screen, as the plant grows into it. This allows you to be able to move the plant around and maintain it when you need to do some trimming or whatever maintenance need the plant may have but still control the height of the plant.


My method is to top when I have 6 nodes showing, nodes are each leaf site. You usually have 2 opposing leaf sites in every node. The space between each node is called an internode. The same day I'm going to flip the light schedule I will do a hard defoliation to give the plant better light penetration and air circulation. After that the only times I clip leaves off is if they are in the way and blocking light to a bud site. I usually don't defoliate plants in veg unless the leaves get so bunched up that there is a possibility of mold forming from the wet leaves touching each other.

There are other training methods like FIM(Fuck I Missed), Super Cropping, Schwazzing, etc. Look them up and learn what each does. You can decide what is best for the situation you are in. I've topped at 6th node then let the plant fill out then FIM them a week before flip. That method will help in promoting more bud sites also but will take a little longer in veg to allow the additional branching and bud sites to appear.

Oh you have no idea!!

That sounds like a great idea. The fan will also introduce more air movement into the room. Another way you can do this is to setup an exhaust fan, inline fans are great for this, to exhaust the air in the room to the outside. This will help in regulating temp and humidity but that's for the next grow and if you have the means to be able to do it.


Thankfully your sick plants are going to get a reprieve!

What I do on flip is to turn DOWN the intensity then ramp up the light intensity each week. I find that this gives the plant a chance to switch up the hormone signaling to flowering and I tend to see bud sites just a little earlier than I usually do. The lessened intensity should help your issue. There is a method of determining how much light your plant needs each day. It's called Daily Light Integral(DLI). In the Daily Light Integral chart it shows the pattern I am discussing.

View attachment 2309933

If you have an android phone there is a free app called Tent Buddy that will allow your phone to measure the light coming from your fixture. Iphones tend to use an app called Photone.

Tent Buddy interface

View attachment 2309935




Try ScrOG or LST to bring down the height of your tallest ones. If you can raise the small ones on a platform to even out the canopy that is another way of doing it. In LST you can tie down individual branches to let the shorter ones catch up along with exposing the branch bud sites to a more even light across it.


I defoliate the same day I flip so, no, no problem.

Thanks again for your input. I ended up cutting 2 of those 3 plants. I just figured if they grow much more in flower, they would get too close to the light.

I am not sure why, but I can't get Tent Buddy. I have Android but no Tent Buddy. I didn't think it would matter whether I was in the UK or not, but maybe it does.
I did download another app which was able to give me a PPFD reading. Now, I'm not sure, but I put it at the top of the plant under the light (back before I dimmed the light down), and I believe it was like 663. It would be less now because the plant isn't growing up as high and I have dimmed the light to 40%.

What intensity should I start with once I flip?

 

[ArtistZanner]

Use your lights to control PAR and Temps. And done properly you can help control RH. Lets say I'm in transition on my grows right now. I need to maintain my PAR levels, but also maintain 80f temps and my RH. So I raise the lights higher in the tent and crank them up up a bit more and adjust a fan I have above the lights. This allows me to maintain my PAR and also raise the temps in the tent. If RH tries to get high the added light/heat control helps and I can also control RH with my humidifier control. In the summer I can lower the lights and back off there settings and keep temps lower, maintain PAR and adjust RH accordingly. It's just a simple balancing act folks seem to way over complicate and don't use the tools in there bag....

I think, for someone like myself, it's just learning what to do. Guys seem to pick up this stuff pretty easily, or so it seems to me. I am trying to get as much information as I can, but sometimes it's confusing. I think growing in a controlled environment would have been a better thing for a first time grower, as I am. I kind of jumped off into the deep end without much planning and am rambling along planning as I go. Guys also tend to have other guys to talk about growing. There's not a lot of women who are into weed, at least not where I am.

 

[Blastfact]

I think, for someone like myself, it's just learning what to do. Guys seem to pick up this stuff pretty easily, or so it seems to me. I am trying to get as much information as I can, but sometimes it's confusing. I think growing in a controlled environment would have been a better thing for a first time grower, as I am. I kind of jumped off into the deep end without much planning and am rambling along planning as I go. Guys also tend to have other guys to talk about growing. There's not a lot of women who are into weed, at least not where I am.

Remember some of us old timers had nobody to help or learn from. It was a long term felony if busted. To have a mentor was almost unheard of. I got lucky because I got a mentor early on. But he was only a outdoor grower. Learning to grow indoor was by hook and crook and falling back on basic horticulture practices struggling with lighting, environment control, odor control to masking/covering up power usage. Growing really isn't hard. Just a steep learning curve if you have no horticulture exposure.

 

[ArtistZanner]

Remember some of us old timers had nobody to help or learn from. It was a long term felony if busted. To have a mentor was almost unheard of. I got lucky because I got a mentor early on. But he was only a outdoor grower. Learning to grow indoor was by hook and crook and falling back on basic horticulture practices struggling with lighting, environment control, odor control to masking/covering up power usage. Growing really isn't hard. Just a steep learning curve if you have no horticulture exposure.

Hi, I'm actually quite good at growing houseplants, but it seems to me that cannabis is a bit different. The plants I grow aren't too fussy about humidity, or nutrients, and none of them bloom (okay, some do like orchids and African violets, but it's not the same).

Anyway, maybe me ambling along as I am is better, and hopefully I learn something useful (though I suppose that depends on what happens at the end).

 

[Blastfact]

Hi, I'm actually quite good at growing houseplants, but it seems to me that cannabis is a bit different. The plants I grow aren't too fussy about humidity, or nutrients, and none of them bloom (okay, some do like orchids and African violets, but it's not the same).

Anyway, maybe me ambling along as I am is better, and hopefully I learn something useful (though I suppose that depends on what happens at the end).

If you like to grow ornamentals and include Orchids and African Violets in your grows. You'll get it. Weed is just another change in parameters.

 

[PooToe]

@ArtistZanner

Try this link for Tent Buddy

https://tent-buddy.en.softonic.com/android

 

[ArtistZanner]

@ArtistZanner

Try this link for Tent Buddy

https://tent-buddy.en.softonic.com/android

I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but have you had this app for a long time? The reason I ask is that my phone is telling me not to download it, that it's a danger to my phone. I am not an expert on phones, so I have no idea about what harm it may or could cause. I might download it to a phone I don't use regularly, not my main phone. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to find the url.

While I'm here, I wanted to ask another question. I sat down today and subjected myself to a bunch of YouTube videos that only irked me more than helped me. They were supposed to be about going from veg to flower, flipping, etc., but most of them just seemed to show how much people chopped up their plants before flipping, no real useful information as I was hoping to get. I had hoped to get some good information about nutrients during the flower period. I recently learned that the Advanced Nutrients line that I've been using is sodium based, and since I have been feeding with every water (there seems to be controversy about that too), I wondered if maybe I had a salt build up and needed to flush, or at the least, water with plain H2O before moving on to the flowering phase. I still have not gotten any definitive information on that. But I did seem to get the idea that most people continue using the same formula as when their plants were vegging for the first 3 weeks after flipping. Would you agree with that? I decided to move over to a more organic approach for the nutrients I will use during flowering. Good, bad or ugly, I've already got them (BioBizz). I'm also going to use some distilled water to make up a foliar spray, using epsom salt to combat my small mag deficiency. I figured it would take too long for the plant to get the benefits if I went via the roots. So I'm going to mix up some and spray the leaves and see if that helps. I still have the taco leaf on the plants I had it on, though I am hoping when my clip-on fan comes tomorrow that it might make a difference by pushing some cooler air towards my plants.
I'm still planning on doing the flip on the 27th, as that's when our clocks fall back, and I thought that was as good a time as any. I really don't want the plants getting too much bigger. So we'll see how things go.

 

[PooToe]

I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but have you had this app for a long time? The reason I ask is that my phone is telling me not to download it, that it's a danger to my phone. I am not an expert on phones, so I have no idea about what harm it may or could cause. I might download it to a phone I don't use regularly, not my main phone. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to find the url.

I've used the app for the last 5 years.

While I'm here, I wanted to ask another question. I sat down today and subjected myself to a bunch of YouTube videos that only irked me more than helped me. They were supposed to be about going from veg to flower, flipping, etc., but most of them just seemed to show how much people chopped up their plants before flipping, no real useful information as I was hoping to get.

Be careful with YouTube. Some good channels but most of it is subjective opinion that, many times, doesn't apply to you or is complete Broscience. Broscience is one "Bro" telling another about how this or that is fact when in fact its his own anectdotal experience and nothing more. You're going to find a lot of that on You Tube.

Look up Dr. Bruce Bugbee. He has some really good videos on YouTube. He did research for NASA in regard to farming in space. He's currently the Director of the Crop Physiology Laboratory at Utah State University here in the states. Obviously the videos will have a lot of science in them but they are packed with a lot of really useful information if you want to understand the mechanics of how plants grow and the things that affect that growth.

I had hoped to get some good information about nutrients during the flower period. I recently learned that the Advanced Nutrients line that I've been using is sodium based, and since I have been feeding with every water (there seems to be controversy about that too), I wondered if maybe I had a salt build up and needed to flush, or at the least, water with plain H2O before moving on to the flowering phase. I still have not gotten any definitive information on that. But I did seem to get the idea that most people continue using the same formula as when their plants were vegging for the first 3 weeks after flipping. Would you agree with that?

This is, in my opinion, pretty much a myth. I use salt based fertilizers so you can include that in whatever bias I may include in my opinion. Can using salt based fertilizers increase soil alkalinity? Yes. Too much of anything is not good. I would imagine that in the early days of indoor growing most cultivators had no idea what fertilizer ratio cannabis liked or how much to give them. As is human nature we tend to think more is better. My guess is that they over fertilized, raised the soil alkalinity and the plants suffered. They "flushed" the plants and eventually got the plants back into growth mode. Nowadays it is rare, with all the experience growers have now in knowing all aspects of the plants nutritional needs through trial and error and science, that you'll see the need for "flushing". I am not a big proponent of flushing. I honestly don't see any real worth in it versus what it does to the plant and the soil biology. Newbs MIGHT need to do that if they tox the plant by overfeeding but most people that have an idea of how to grow would pretty much steer away from that scenario. The dosing instructions do all the work.

Short answer? You don't need to flush. Unless you're pouring ungodly amounts of fertilizer in the pot you're fine.

I should have asked you what you are feeding the plants. I see now that you are using salt based nutrients and decided to use Advanced Nutrients. What products are you using of theirs?

My opinion about your nutrition is as such. I've run the AN line many times. From their basic to their Connoisseur line. I like their product line. It gets results. At what cost is another discussion but for someone that isn't really that knowledgeable about how nutrients work it's an easy way to a bountiful harvest. That being said, I believe that 99% of the "amendments" you see offered don't really do much. When I worked in licensed grow operations I got to watch lots of side by side experiments of nutrient line amendments that were being offered. I can't remember one that actually did what it said it would do. My own nutritional program consists of 4 things. Grow and Bloom base, Silicate, Cal/Mag. I use two amendments. Voodoo Juice from Advanced Nutrients which is liquid bacteria. Nothing else. I use this the first couple of weeks in the seedling phase to get the bacterial community going. When I transplant my plant into its final home I use a powdered fungus called mycorrhizae. I use the one from Xtreme Gardening. I sprinkle it into the hole and it builds a fungal network that works in synergy with the root system.

I would agree with feeding nitrogen into flower. I've come to this conclusion myself through countless grows. What I do is a blend of both Grow and Bloom but deeper like into week 6 of flower. After week 6 the flowers don't use much nitrogen so I can remove the grow part of the blend and run straight bloom formula.

I decided to move over to a more organic approach for the nutrients I will use during flowering. Good, bad or ugly, I've already got them (BioBizz). I'm also going to use some distilled water to make up a foliar spray, using epsom salt to combat my small mag deficiency. I figured it would take too long for the plant to get the benefits if I went via the roots. So I'm going to mix up some and spray the leaves and see if that helps. I still have the taco leaf on the plants I had it on, though I am hoping when my clip-on fan comes tomorrow that it might make a difference by pushing some cooler air towards my plants.

I would do both. Foliar will get it to them faster but roots will give them the volume they need.

I'm still planning on doing the flip on the 27th, as that's when our clocks fall back, and I thought that was as good a time as any. I really don't want the plants getting too much bigger. So we'll see how things go.

Part of the fun of growing.....Expiramentation!!

 

[ArtistZanner]

@PooToe
So, dear Mr Toe, or should I say "Poo"? (Sorry, just feeling a bit silly today)

I have found your response and comments to be very helpful and actually inline with what I was already thinking, to some degree. As for the flushing part, I haven't done it and I really didn't think it made a lot of sense, but what do I know?

I have actually watched a couple of Dr Bugbee's videos, and while they sometimes go way over my head (I am horrible with math), I do see that he has the science and facts behind him. I absolutely get what you're saying about the "bro science". I think too many people growing want to be a YouTuber and so they make videos about crap (just my opinion of course). I must admit, I do enjoy watching 'The Dude Grows' (the Scotty guy makes me laugh), however, that's not to say I take everything they say and do as correct or right for me.

In regards to Advanced Nutrients, I'm only using the Micro, Grow, Bloom trio. I have no idea about silica in regards to using it with cannabis, so I've not used that at all. I do use CalMag though because I read that it's a good addition and I think some people on here suggested it as well. I only bought the Biobizz because I was concerned about salt buildup. I have it, so I'm obviously going to use it at some point. I will, however, continue to use the Advanced Nutrients. I'm not sure how long because I don't have a lot of it left. I suppose I could just buy one single instead of going for the trio. I do wish I had paid more attention when I first started, I should have joined this forum back when I still had seedlings. You see, I didn't feed my seedlings at all and didn't give them the proper light at first, that's why I have plants of different sizes, and those 3 tallish ones. Also, when I went to buy the 2nd Batch of seeds, they were out of the ones I picked and they sent me an upgrade. Now, I know nothing about weed genetics. To be honest, I only wanted inexpensive seeds and I wanted feminized seeds. And that's what I got. However, my 2nd Batch do look quite different to my 1st Batch and I'm not sure if that's down to the better quality seeds, or that they got better light. Who knows. Anyway, getting back to things. Knowing what I know now, I realise I should have prepared my soil better. The mycorrhizae is something I've heard a lot about and if I was planting more, I'd definitely use it. I see people with seedlings that are bushy, you would have laughed if you had seen mine. They were little and spindly. I was totally unprepared for what I got into. I blame that damn bird seed weed plant I found outside (the one that ended up getting root rot because it didn't have any perlite in the soil and was holding too much water at the roots). I threw it out.

Okay, so I'm going to continue with my Advanced Nutrients Micro, Grow, Bloom trio for about 3-4 weeks (or longer?) and once into actual budding, I will probably start using the Biobizz, and of course, I will continue with the CalMag. Is there anything else you would recommend me adding at this stage in the cycle?
I am flipping tomorrow. Which brings me to another question. I normally run my lights on at 7.30pm and turning them off next day at 1.30pm. When I flip I want to run my lights from 12 noon on and off at 12 midnight. So that presents a problem. if I l turn the lights on tonight at 7.30pm, that means that my lights will have been running from 7.30pm tonight until midnight tomorrow night. That seems wrong to me. Should I turn them off earlier tonight, like turn them off at midnight, and then start fresh by turning them on at noon tomorrow? That won't cause any problems if I do that way, will it?
I hadn't really thought of how I'd do the time change and light change until just now (doh). I'm a horrible planner.

Good news. I received my clip-on fan today and it's actually bigger than I thought. Not huge, I just thought it would be tiny, it's 6". Now, when lights are off, it won't really do much good because that window is covered to prevent light from getting in, but once lights are on, I can open that window and hopefully it will draw in cooler air to blow into my space.
This next question may seen insignificant, but does it matter where my dehumidifier is placed in relation to where my plants are? I had it right next to the plants, but it tends to emit heat and I felt that might be bad for the plants, so I moved it back about 5-feet. It's still drawing moisture out of the air, so I guess that's the point. But I wasn't sure if I should have it closer to the plants as I did initially or not. Oh, one other thing I wanted to bring up. The dehumidifier, heater and my light strip all have some lights on them. The heater and light strip are orange lights, the dehumidifier is a bluish white light. I've heard about making sure there's no light in the room once they are in flower mode. Right now, when I turn off all the lights and close the door, I cannot see any of the plants, nor any light reflecting onto the plants. Should I cover over those lights anyway? I've heard that even a little light can make a difference, but then I've heard that if you can't see your plants, it's dark enough. Should I err on the side of safety and do it anyway, just to be sure?

In regards to giving some extra nutrients to address my magnesium deficiency, you're saying I should put some on the soil as well as doing the foliar spray? I got some distilled water to mix it up, as I read that was better than water with minerals in it. Obviously I'm not going to use 5-liters all at once, will it be okay to mix and leave for another time? If I can't mix and leave for later, then I have to try and work out how much to use in a 400ml spray bottle. When I use it for the soil, do I need to apply it before I water? I just watered last night, so that will have to wait if it needs to be watered in. I did sprinkle some of my egg shell powder onto the soil in some of my plants. I was making it up for my aquatic tanks, and didn't have enough to do all the plants, hopefully it won't hurt anything.

Okie dokie, I think that's all my questions for you (as if that wasn't enough). You've been a great help in guiding me and I cannot thank you enough. I truly appreciate every single person that's answered my questions, even when I've asked the same question more than once. This is a great site, very helpful and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to grow. Thank you, and I mean that sincerely.